Rolapp Mine, Price Canyon, Mouth of Bear Canyon, Helper

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The mine is associated with events that have made significant contributions to the broad patterns of our history, i.e., early century coal mining in Utah and the western United States. Coal mining was the chief influence in the settlement and development of Carbon County. Historians: Robert G, Rosenberg, Historical Consultant A. Dudley Gardner, Principal Investigator Western Wyoming College August Rolapp Mine HAER No. UT-53 (Page 2)

History

The Rolapp Mine, originally called the Cameron Mine, was first developed by Frank N. Cameron in It was located near the mouth of Bear Canyon, a side canyon of Price Canyon about four miles northwest of Helper, Utah. The mine was strategically located along the right-of-way of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad through Price Canyon. Frank Cameron had already developed the Panther Mine and the town of Heiner located nearby. The Cameron Mine was first mentioned in the State Coal Mine Inspector's Report for the years That report stated that Cameron was a part owner who had already sold his interests to Ogden capitalists.

Nevertheless, the mine still bore his name, as did the Cameron Coal Company which operated it.^ The Cameron Coal Company began shipping coal from the Cameron Mine on April 1, During that year, the mine produced tons of coal, with a sixteen man crew. A wooden tipple with shaker screen was built at the railroad tracks in Price Canyon. An electric hoisting machine, fan, and coal cutting machines were also installed. In the Cameron Coal Company consisted of M. S. Browning, president, E. S. Rolapp, vice president and general manager; and Mariner Browning, secretary.2 Two mines were developed by means of two 740-foot track tunnels to reach six-foot-thick beds in the Castlegate and Kenilworth coal groups, Blackhawk Formation, Mesaverde Group of the Upper Cretaceous Period.

The mines were at first considered to be gaseous and required "a great deal of care and skill" to keep them in safe condition. The mines were worked under the room and pillar system, where the coal was mined in rooms separated by narrow ribs or pillars that held the roof. The coal was undercut by machine, then drilled and shot down for loading. By the early both animals and electric locomotives were used to haul the coal underground. Upon reaching the portal, the coal was conveyed to the wooden tipple located along the Denver & Rio Grande tracks by an endless rope and tramway.3 In the Cameron Kos. 1 and 2 mines, or A and B, as they were also called, produced tons of coal with a 77-man crew. In that figure rose to tons with a 110-man work force.

The production of the two mines was generally combined in the State Coal Mine Inspector's Reports. In the mines achieved a total production of tons with 106 men, and in the following year produced tons of coal with 130 men. In the production dropped to tons with a 145-man crew.4 F. H. Rolapp became president and general manager of the Cameron Coal Company by the early and the name of the company changed to the Rolapp Mine HAER No. UT-53 (Page 3) Royal Coal Company, The trade name of the coal became known as "Royal." In the Royal Mines produced tons of coal, and in the figure dropped to tons. In the Royal Mines produced tons of coal.

Production dropped, as the nation entered the Great Depression, The Royal Mines produced tons of coal from July 1, to June 30, The company employed 112 men in July Production increased to tons of ooal from July 1, to June 30, Changes in ownership brought about changes in the name of the mine and camp, which were successively known as Cameron, Rolapp, and, finally, Royal. The camp is still shown as Royal on U. S, Geological Survey quadrangles (Standardville quad. although the mine is called the Rolapp Mine. The camp originally consisted of a two-story store, office building, and thirty dwellings for miners. It is likely that the Cameron Coal Company used readily available standardized plans rather than professional architects for the residences and constructed them with local labor.

However, no detailed information has been found concerning the construction history of rolapp. The number of miners employed at Rolapp never exceeded 175 and averaged closer to 100 men. In the Royal Coal Company sold out to the Spring Canyon Coal Company. The camp had a population of about 36O at that time. It had a school, hospital, general store, a post office, and a service station. The new highway up Price Canyon actually served as the main street of the camp. The school was a large two-story brick building with a hipped roof. The population of Rolapp, like many of the coal camps in Carbon County, was a rich ethnic blend of Italians, Germans, Austrians, Slavs, Greeks, and Scandinavians, There does not appear to have been a hierarchy of housing along ethnic or economic divisions.

Supervisory personnel tended to live in more substantial residences, but management and labor lived side by side. During the prolonged struggle for union recognition in the coal industry, Rolapp was considered the "strongest union camp in the state."" The Rolapp mines closed in the early after nearly fifty years of production, Robert "Bud" Wilson, a miner at Standardville, moved to royal and worked in the mine until they closed. He said that a crew of about men worked there at that time. Much like Standardville, there was little warning for the miners, when the operation was finally shut down. When given the word, they merely laid down their tools and went home. At this point, the camp had only a small population, since many of the miners commuted from nearby communities. When TJ. S.

Route 6 was improved through Price Canyon, most of the Royal townsite was destroyed. According to Mr. Wilson, his former residence is under the centerline of today's highway. Road improvement also destroyed the tipple and railroad sidings.' Rolapp Mine HAER No. UT-55 (Page 4) Remnants of royal can still be found in Bear Canyon and consist of "building foundations on either side of the road lending to the mines. Duping the productive life of the Rolapp mines, an estimated 7.1 million to 7.4 million tons of coal were produced with a 44 percent recovery rate. It has been farther estimated that over tons of coal reserves remain in the ground.^ Should the demand for coal ever make it economically feasible, the Rolapp mines may once again he the focus of intensive mining activity. II. HISTORICAL

Significance of the Rolapp Mines and Gamp

In Desert West Research, Salt Lake City, Utah, conducted a Class III cultural resource survey in the Bear Canyon area, including the Rolapp site. Rolapp was considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.9 The Rolapp Mine and associated townsite are an integral part of the history of the Bear Canyon mining area, the Book Cliffs Coal Field, and the overall history of coal mining in the State of Utah and the western United States. The site, therefore, has local, state, and regional historical significance.

The Rolapp Mine operated nearly continuously from until the early At its peak, the Rolapp Mine employed a work force of about 175 miners, and the townsite had a population approaching The Book Cliffs Coal Field, of which the Rolapp Mine was a part, produced approximately 75 percent of Utah's overall coal output into the * Finally, Rolapp boasted a rich ethnic diversity, making Carbon Gouncil unlike any other county in Utah, a state dominated by the Mormon agricultural tradition. Miners from all points of the globe, including Italian, Austrians, Greeks, Germans, and Scandinavians were able to live and work together despite language and cultural barriers.

Many of these miners and their descendents still reside in the communities of Carbon County, adding to the current ethnic mix of this region. III. FOOTNOTES 1 State of Utah, Report of the State Coal Mine Inspector, pp. Chuck Zehnder, A Guide to Carbon County Coal Camps and Ghost Towns (Helper, Utah: p. 10. 2 Ibid., Report of the State Coal Mine Inspector, Rolapp Mine HAER Wo. UT-53 (Page 5) 3 C. A. Allen and E. M. Spieker, "Analyses of Utah Coals," U. S. Bureau of Mines Technical Paper Ho. 345 (Washington: Government printing Office, pp. H. H. Doelling, Central Utah Coal Fields: Sevier, Sanpete, Wasatch Plateau, Book Cliffs and Emery, Monograph Series Wo. 3 (Salt Lake City; Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey, pp.

State of Utah, Report of the Industrial Commission, Report of the State Coal Mine Inspector, pp. 4 State of Utah, Report of the Industrial Commission, Report of the State Coal Mine Inspector, p. 10; pp. 5 State of Utah, Report of the Industrial Commission, Report of the State Coal Mine Inspector, 6 Allan Kent Powell, The Next Time We Strike; Labor in Utah's Coal Fields, (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, p. Zehnder, pp. 7 Robert "Bud" Wilson, personal communication, Helper, Utah, August 26, 8 Doelling, pp. 9 Michael S. Berry, "An Archeological Evaluation of Historic Coal Mining Sites in Carbon County: Spring Canyon, Bear Canyon, Scofield and Gordon Creek Areas," Desert West Research, Salt Lake City, Utah, (typewritten). 10 Doelling, p. Ro.lapp Mine HAER No.

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